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. 2020 Jun 23;3(1):e13996.
doi: 10.2196/13996. eCollection 2020 Jan-Dec.

Understanding the Association Between Electronic Health Record Satisfaction and the Well-Being of Nurses: Survey Study

Saif Khairat  1   2 , Lin Xi  1 , Songzi Liu  1 , Shilpa Shrestha  1 , Charles Austin  1
Affiliations

Understanding the Association Between Electronic Health Record Satisfaction and the Well-Being of Nurses: Survey Study

Saif Khairat et al. JMIR Nurs. .

Abstract

Background: Intensive care unit (ICU) nurses experience high levels of burnout related to the high-stress environment. Management of electronic health records (EHR) is a contributing factor to physician burnout. However, limited research has established the relationship between the nurse's well-being and EHR use.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the association between EHR use and the well-being of nurses.

Methods: We surveyed registered nurses employed at a major Southeastern medical center in the United States about their demographics, experience with EHRs, satisfaction with EHRs, and elements of well-being. The correlation between subgroup demographics and survey questions was examined using Kendall and Fisher tests.

Results: A total of 113 ICU registered nurses responded to the survey, of which 93 (82.3%) were females. The population had a mean age of 35.18 years (SD 10.65). A significant association was found between satisfaction and well-being scores, where higher EHR satisfaction was associated with higher self-reported well-being (correlation 0.35, P<.001). Nurses who were unhappy with the time spent in EHR use compared with direct patient care reported higher levels of stress (P<.001) and isolation (P=.009). Older nurses reported higher dissatisfaction with the amount of time spent on EHR tasks related to direct patient care compared to younger nurses (P<.001).

Conclusions: Although nurses reported acceptable satisfaction scores with EHR use, deeper analysis suggests that EHR indirectly affects the well-being of nurses. These findings strongly indicate that lower EHR satisfaction can impact the well-being of nurses. More research is needed to optimize the nurse-EHR experience through more user-centered design approaches.

Keywords: critical care; electronic health record; nursing; satisfaction.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diverging bar chart of responses of survey questions.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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